


Building Worlds and Friendships

by leporidae



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Kris (Deltarune), Other, Role-Playing Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 21:38:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17926832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leporidae/pseuds/leporidae
Summary: The boring, everyday human Kris wears baggy shirts and shrinks back to the corner of the classroom to avoid the prying eyes of their monster peers. This Kris, the heroic warrior Kris, has armor and a gallant sword, is calm and collected in the face of danger. They can do anything, and be anyone.





	Building Worlds and Friendships

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic for the Deltarune zine, [Light and Dark!](https://twitter.com/Deltarune_Zine) These games have such a unique sense of humor that works really well in game format with art and music to accompany it, but I found it a bit hard to capture in fic form. It was certainly a tricky endeavor, but I had fun giving it a shot!
> 
> We each had some general prompts to work with, and mine was "roleplaying." I thought it would be cute if the characters' personas in the Dark World were self-created to reflect their personalities and imaginations, and thus this (fairly silly) fic was born.

_Ralsei is coming home for the weekend._

Kris hits _send_ , then stares at the screen of their phone for a long while. When there’s no immediate answer, they begin to feel antsy, and in the next ten minutes they have compiled a list of interesting substances around the house that they would like to taste. _Mom’s soap. The dirt at the bottom of the empty flower pot in the kitchen. The burnt grease inside the oven. The lint stuck underneath my bed._

They’re about to lick the underside of the bed when the phone beeps. Kris frowns and scuttles out from the shadows to squint at their screen.

_sometimes i forget you can type since you never talk you weirdo. god that text startled me_

The hint of an amused smile curls Kris’s lips. Susie is always so brash, so rough around the edges; yet she’s mean in a way that’s impossible to hate, a way that makes you root for her despite her gruff attitude and questionable profanities. She’s a — what’s that word, again — ?

 _Tsundere._ Yes, that’s it. Kris nods to themselves. That’s the term for someone who’s grumpy on the outside but loving on the inside. Kris learned _that_ one from the _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2_ DVDs Alphys loves so much.

_You remember Ralsei right?_

The response comes almost immediately, before Kris can think about ingesting lint.

_oh yeah he moved away last year. fluffy weirdo. toothpaste boy lmao_

This time Kris does smile. For Susie, this is outright endearing.

_He wanted to know if you would like to hang out with us next weekend before he goes home._

_I want you to come too._

Silence. Kris stares at their phone, stares and stares and _stares_ until their vision blurs. Rubbing their eyes, they set the phone down and shimmy under the bed frame, staring up at the dust bunnies clinging there with defiance. Kris leans up with an outstretched tongue — and begins to cough as soon as the taste of dirt fills their mouth. In retrospect, dust bunnies probably have _dust_ in their name for a reason. Protected by the privacy of their room, Kris makes a rude hand gesture at the lint, one they had learned from Susie (and had been scolded profusely by Toriel for using).

The phone buzzes. Instantly Kris leaps to the phone, mouthful of lint forgotten.

_uh i mean i guess but im babysitting lancer over the weekend_

_his dads always outta town and never even calls_

_i seriously wanna smash his face in_

_i mean uh give him a piece of my mind… but nicely_

_so lancer doesnt cry or something???_

It’s a wonder Susie even landed this babysitting gig in the first place, considering she’s infamous at school for her… _colorful_ language. And… _opinionated_ remarks. Luckily for her, Lancer’s father doesn’t care who babysits his son as long as they are present so he doesn’t have to be. A bit sad for Lancer, but good for Susie’s salary — although sometimes Kris does find themselves wondering what sort of adult Lancer will grow into with Susie’s guidance.

(Probably an entertaining one.)

_You could bring him._

_Ralsei thinks he’s cute._

Actually, Ralsei had nearly fainted the last time Lancer and Susie had both shouted the same naughty word at him. But Kris conveniently doesn’t mention that.

_whatever i guess. ralsei’s a big soft baby anyway so lancer will probably have fun._

Kris smiles.

That means, _I’ll have fun, too._

* * *

Nature had always been calming for Kris. It’s filled with weird bugs and weird plants that Kris finds themselves wanting to befriend and put in their mouth (usually in that order). Everything at school is too loud and stimulating, and their classmates are so _social_. In comparison, the outdoors are quiet, just like them.

Is it strange to feel a kinship to moss? Perhaps. But that’s never stopped Kris from any of their oddities before.

It is for this reason that Ralsei had chosen the park as the location for their gathering. He had always been in tune with Kris’s desires, something they had always been grateful for. While spreading out the blanket and craft materials Ralsei had carried with him, they tell each other stories of their lives while apart; Ralsei recounts the past few months in his timid but passionate voice, and Kris doodles their exploits with Susie and Lancer, taking great care crafting their expressions so that Ralsei can feel like he was there, too.

“There’s this really fun game my friends at university taught me,” Ralsei says once the two of them have expended their tales and settled cross-legged on the blanket. “Well, um — I guess it’s not _quite_ a game. It’s — it’s more of, um — making a story?”

Kris waits patiently for Ralsei to overcome his nerves. Their friend is so creative and so kind, but he second-guesses himself far too often.

“Basically, we all, um — make characters, and they’re all the heroes of a story together. They go on heroic quests and have different strengths and weaknesses, fulfilling the overarching prophecy — oh, this is so stupid, isn’t it?” Ralsei pulls the fabric of his scarf over his face, fidgeting as his cheeks blush a deep pink. “This sounds so silly when I put it into words. Um, just forget it —”

Kris shakes their head and places a reassuring hand on Ralsei’s shoulder. Living as a human in a world of monsters can sometimes be so isolating for them, but in Ralsei’s game, Kris can be anyone they want to be — even a cool, suave hero! Eyes sparkling underneath messy bangs, their lips tug into a smile, and they give Ralsei a thumbs up.

“R-really?” Ralsei asks. “You’re sure you want to try? I-in that case —” Rummaging through his backpack with an excited squeak, he pulls out a stack of papers, some with text and some with drawings. “I was brainstorming some concepts for us, and I wanted to make sure we all had an important role in the story, so I started working on some prophecies. At first I thought we could have our own individual destinies, but I thought it would be more fun if we were all linked together from the start. ...Also, because Susie might go off on her own and take over the story if I didn’t do that. So I thought we could have a story where the three of us were bound together by fate to fight a common evil. ‘A human, a monster, and a prince from the dark.’ Obviously you’re the human, Susie is the monster, and for myself I was thinking —”

“Kris! You didn’t tell me Ralsei wanted us to play a _NERD GAME!_ ”

In the midst of the explanation, Susie appears at the park with Lancer in tow, accusingly pointing one clawed finger in Kris’s direction. They shrug, turning to Ralsei for damage control.

“U-um…” Ralsei sits abruptly, smoothing out the blanket with nervous hands. “Well —”

“A game?!” Lancer scuttles over to sit beside Ralsei, kicking his feet in the air with excitement. “That sounds fun! I want to make my character scary.” He cranes his neck to look at the reference sheet with the drawing of Ralsei’s character — and blows a raspberry, dissatisfied. (Ralsei makes a strangled, indignant sound as he rescues his drawings from a rain of childish spittle.) “Your character looks so nice. I wanna make a really, _really_ scary character.” A hopeful grin is flashed in Susie’s direction. “I bet you’d make a super awesome, scary character. Will you help me with mine?”

“Uh. You really think so?” Susie’s clawed hand rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, and though her expression remains _mostly_ impassive, Kris can see the wobble of her lower lip as her willpower cracks. “I mean. _Ugh._ This sounds kinda awful? ...But since I’m an _expert_ in scary things, I guess I have to help. Because this lame game is gonna be so boring without me.” She bares her fangs menacingly at Ralsei, who shrinks back, and laughs a hearty guffaw. “If you even think you can handle me, Toothpaste Boy!”

Ralsei smiles nervously. “We’re friends, Susie! Of course I can handle you.”

(Kris isn’t fully convinced.)

“Ralsei!” Lancer squeaks, his boisterous voice cutting through the tension. “Can my character ride a bike?”

“A — a bike?” Ralsei blinks slowly, and it’s clear he’s struggling to reject the idea. “Well, I suppose there’s no rule saying fantasy worlds can’t have bikes…”

“Can the bike be on fire?” Lancer adds excitedly. “That’s cool and scary, right, Susie? A flaming bike?”

“O-oh, uh…” Susie’s gaze floats to the sky for a moment, then she grins. “Yeah, that’s super cool and scary. What about it, Ralsei? Give the kid a flaming bike?”

“Isn’t that dangerous…?” Kneading his fingers together, Ralsei desperately turns to Kris for a tiebreaker of opinion. “What do you think, Kris? U-um — do you think a flaming bike is okay?”

Kris shrugs.

Ralsei heaves a sigh. “Okay, that’s fine, then. Flaming bike it is.”

Lancer and Susie both give a loud _whoop!_ and high-five one another with smug satisfaction. Kris wonders if Ralsei is beginning to regret his decision.

“What about you, Kris?” Ralsei asks, glancing over at the character reference sheet on which Kris had been quietly doodling their character concept. “What have you come up with so far?”

Kris hesitates before sliding the paper over; Susie and Lancer are too busy patting each other on the back (both literally and figuratively) for their ingenious flaming bike idea to notice. Throughout their life Kris had always been a bit bothered that they had never seemed quite as… _awesome_ as the rest of the monsters that made up their world. The idea of creating a heroic persona appealed to them, and so they had chosen a completely different color pallete for their character to set them apart. The boring, everyday human Kris wears baggy shirts and shrinks back to the corner of the classroom to avoid the prying eyes of their monster peers. This Kris, the heroic warrior Kris, has armor and a gallant sword, is calm and collected in the face of danger. They can do _anything,_ and be _anyone._

“Wow, Kris! That looks really good!” Ralsei gushes.

A small smile curls their lips, and Kris looks away with satisfaction.

“I want to see,” Susie says loudly, suddenly tuning into the conversation again, and she cranes her neck over Ralsei’s shoulder to view Kris’s drawings. “What’s a _Chairs Ma_ and why is yours so high?”

“That’s _charisma_ ,” Ralsei corrects gently, “and it’s a stat that helps Kris with actions like reasoning with enemies and, um, flirting.”

“Well, that’s sounds like a waste of time,” Susie huffs, her snout crinkling with distaste as she leans back. “I don’t want my character to be full of _chairs_ so she can kiss up to enemies. All she needs to be good at is bashing in people’s heads. With a bat, or like — a big axe.”

“It’s good for all of our characters to have different strengths and weaknesses,” Ralsei says carefully, “so, um — if you want your character to have a lot of strength, I guess that’s fine?” The worry in his voice is not lost on Kris, though. “I was going to have my character have a high magic stat for healing spells, so our party doesn’t get injured. So if your character gets hurt fighting, I can —”

“Hey, actually —” Susie interrupts suddenly, her voice dipping to a low drawl. “I just thought of a cool catchphrase I want my character to have.”

Ralsei looks up at her timidly, and Kris braces themselves for the inevitable disaster that is about to come crashing down upon them. “Y-yes?”

What comes out of Susie’s mouth then is so vile and unspeakable that even the normally-silent Kris gasps audibly. Ralsei practically _wails_ at the string of profanities pouring from Susie’s lips, and Lancer himself is gazing up at her with unbridled _awe_ as though she is a literal god amongst monsters, even as the fleeting remainder of his childish innocence is stripped away with the addition of every word.

“Susie!” Ralsei protests, aghast. “You can’t have your character say those things! It’s, um — it’s very inappropriate.”

“Is there a rule against it?” Susie leans in, her muscled silhouette towering over Ralsei’s fluffy wisp of a body.

He shrinks back, eyes darting from side to side behind the lenses of his glasses, before speaking again. “Well. I guess. Technically, no,” Ralsei finally admits, “but, um. I’d prefer you… didn’t?”

Kris knows that when Susie puts on her intimidating persona, it’s not _truly_ reflective of her thoughts, but Ralsei is easily intimidated  — and not very good at standing up for himself. It’s always been Kris’s unspoken job to diffuse the tension between their group born from extremely clashing personalities, and now is no different.

There’s a strange, brightly-colored plant growing in a patch of grass beside the blanket. Eating strange plants is a solid tactic for diffusing tension, right? At least, that’s Kris’s default when they can’t come up with a different plan of action. Placing foreign objects in one’s mouth usually tends to divert the conversation.

Resolutely scrunching their brow, Kris uproots the plant with a sudden _yank_ and shoves the entire fistful between their lips.

“K-kris!” Ralsei yelps. “What did you — what was it you just put in your mouth?!”

In response to their friend’s horror, Kris opens their mouth to display the chewed plant, even as their face begins to itch and their tongue begins to swell. Perhaps this intake of unidentified vegetation hadn’t been such a grand idea after all. Oh well. Kris’s heroic persona wouldn’t shy away from eating dangerous plants, so why should they? And despite the sudden burning of their lips, the drastic act had in fact distracted their friends from arguing. So it’s a win in their book.

“Oh. My. GOD,” Susie yells, standing suddenly. “You look awful. Are you stupid or something? We’ve gotta get you to the hospital.”

“What about my flaming bike?” Lancer pipes up from behind her.

“Um, you’ll get it later,” Susie says. “Promise. I’ll even help you design it to look scarier, okay?”

“Okay!”

Susie hoists Kris onto her back as Ralsei frantically calls the hospital, and Kris can’t help but smile, even though the very act itself hurts their face. When Susie and Ralsei are both worried about Kris, the two of them put aside their differences and work well together. Useful information for the peace of their future brainstorming sessions, Kris thinks.

Now if only they weren’t so darn _itchy._


End file.
